Stateline Tasmania

Workplace concerns

AIRLIE WARD: Questions have been raised about the effectiveness of the state's workplace safety watchdog. A Tasmanian woman has accused Workplace Standards of bungling the investigation into her husband's death at Margate more than two years ago, and the union representing Workplace Standards investigators is warning that the department is under-resourced, to the point where Tasmanians cannot be guaranteed a safe working environment. Peter Wells reports.

DENISE MITCHELL: It was one of the most major things I've ever been through in my life and in his immediate family, extended family, friends. A workplace accident is just something so different. He went to work one day and he didn't come home.

PETER WELLS: For 44-year-old Keith Mitchell it was supposed to be a simple job. He and two others took a crane to Margate, to load a 6-tonne boat on to a trailer. Keith Mitchell was a fitter. His job was to drive the truck carrying the boat from Margate through to its new home at Macquarie Wharf. After it was lifted, Keith Mitchell was standing in front of the trailer. A rigger saw him jump away from the trailer, and the crane began to tip over. The crane's boom hit Mr Mitchell, killing him.

Since that day in September 2003, Denise Mitchell says she and her family have been fighting an uphill battle to get answers.

DENISE MITCHELL: We needed to happen why it had happened and what had happened, so that we would, hopefully, stop it from happening again and stop another family going through the grief and heartache that we went through.

She just wouldn't believe it. It just kicks you up so much.

PETER WELLS: Soon after the accident, Denise Mitchell started to have misgivings about the way Workplace Standards was investigating her husband's death. Mrs Mitchell was questioned by investigators in December, three months after the accident, but Greg Smith, the rigger who was at the site when the crane toppled, wasn't formally interviewed until the following February - five months after the accident.

DENISE MITCHELL: I'm lucky, Iíve got a good memory, I can remember most things, but you take two guys that are in a traumatic accident or incident and itís going to affect their lives. Five months later is way too long to remember exactly what happened and how it happened and why it happened.

PETER WELLS: Some of Mrs Mitchell's fears about the investigation were realised at the inquest into her husband's death. Coroner Ian Matterson was told the department had planned to get an independent report on why the crane toppled, but this never happened. A Workplace Standards investigator told the Coroner expert assistance from outside Tasmania was needed but the department couldn't find an interstate expert willing to look into the accident.

DENISE MITCHELL: It was an inadequate investigation, we know that now right from the beginning. It was a botch-up. It took my lawyer asking the Coroner to get an independent engineering report before we got a finding. Now, that finding allowed us to know the reason why the crane fell over.

PETER WELLS: Thanks to that independent report, Ian Matterson was able to hand down his findings that the crane was on a slope that was too steep to be safe. It was more than two years after the accident that the Coroner was able to determine Keith Mitchell's death was avoidable, and that his employer, Elliott Brothers, failed to provide basic safety to its workers. Under Tasmanian law, workplace safety breaches can only be prosecuted within 12 months of an accident, and, based on Workplace Standardsí initial investigation, the office of the DPP wasn't confident the company could be convicted.

In a letter to Workplace Standards, Crown Prosecutor Frank Neasey said, "It would have greatly assisted the prosecution in these circumstances to be able to establish why the crane fell over."

DENISE MITCHELL: If workplace had worked on all the information that they had in the very beginning, I have no doubt that a prosecution would have been inevitable. There would have been one.

PETER WELLS: The Community and Public Sector Union represents investigators at Workplace Standards Tasmania. The unionís Mat Johnston says the Mitchell investigation highlights a number of systemic problems within the department.

MAT JOHNSTON: Workplace Standards are finding it difficult to prioritise cases. You have entry-level officers dealing with coronial inquests, while more experienced officers may be dealing with a site inspection or an agitation. This seems to be primarily because they have to allocate cases as they come in, in an ad-hoc fashion rather than a strategic fashion, utilising the staff to their best abilities.

PETER WELLS: The union says two key issues need to be addressed, staffing and qualifications. It says pay levels for Tasmanian investigators are significantly less than their interstate counterparts, which means the department is having trouble attracting experienced investigators.

MAT JOHNSTON: We are losing a lot of experienced and professional staff recently because of the workload issue. A lot of the senior staff are feeling as if they want to take early retirement or find another career choice.

PETER WELLS: Workplace Standards denies botching the Mitchell investigation. The department says that, while Greg Smith hadn't been formally interviewed until months after the accident, that wasn't the first time investigators spoke to Mr Greg Smith.

DAVID PETERS: Mr Smith was interviewed within days of the accident, on a couple of occasions, including on site, and so the discovery of information was done at a very early stage, but the five-month interview was a formality, with a lawyer present, formal record of interview.

PETER WELLS: Mr Peters concedes the independent report prepared for the inquest provided more information but maintains he is satisfied with the investigation into Keith Mitchell's death. He is also certain that Tasmanians can be guaranteed a safe working environment.

DAVID PETERS: The inspectors are all trained in inspectoral skills. There is an induction program that is set out to make sure that they all have the core competencies before they actually start doing any inspection work. When they do start work, they are put in a mentor situation with an experienced inspector, and nobody is thrown out into workplaces without the appropriate training and experience.

PETER WELLS: With five workplace deaths reported over the last few months, the issue of safety in the workplace and operating dangerous equipment has never been more important, and, for the Mitchell family, they hope something can be learned from Keith Mitchell's death.

DENISE MITCHELL: And we said at the very beginning it couldn't be in vain, like it had to - his death had to mean something.